The UK's financial watchdog earlier this year charged five other individuals involved in the stockbroker scandal.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has charged Charanjit Sandhu, of Grays, Essex, with conspiracy to defraud for offences relating to the promotion and sale of shares through four alleged “boiler rooms”, all of which traded from Docklands, London.

By definition, a boiler room fraud involves stockbrokers cold calling potential buyers to entice them into purchasing securities promising high returns when, in fact, those securities are bogus or non-existent. 

The offences stem from the illicit promotion and sale of shares in Atlantic Equity, formerly Berkeley Brookes, between July 2013 and March 2014, through a succession of four companies: First Capital Wealth, Bishops of Mayfair, Wallberg Dillion Reid and Sterling Capital Corporation.

Earlier this year, the FCA charged five other individuals involved in the same scandal with conspiracy to defraud. Two of the five were also charged with perverting the course of justice and one was charged with money laundering offences, the FCA noted.

Sandhu is the sixth defendant to be charged as a result of the UK financial watchdog's investigation.

The FCA were unable to provide any further comment on the matter at the time of writing.